The Home advocate. (Farmerville, La.) 1885-1???, 1887-06-10
THE PAPAGOS.
A Remark able Tribe Of Chris
lien Indians in Arizona.
An Agricultural People, Whose Creates:
Enemies are the Apaches.

Enemies are the Apaches.
The PLpayos are a remarkable tribe OF
Indians, who long ago accepted CHRIS
tiani'y, and they must have been en-
dowcd with great powers Of endurance,
sine, living on the very frontier OF tie
dreaded Apache country, they have re-
sisted the Apache attacks. To-day the
Papagos, especially those found near
San Xavier, arc agvicu.turlsts, and cult
vatc the lich bottom-lands lying neal
the Santa Cruz river. Their dwellings
are straw jcai.s pronounced hi-ca's},
which have generally shed supported
by poles i'll front Of them. These Papa
Cos raise wheat. barley. beans, ard
garden truck, but their methods OF a9-
riculturc are very crude. Their thrcsh-
ing is carried on in the Oriental manner,
10y means Of horses, and the vinnowins
is done by tossing the straw in the air.
To grind their gram the most primitive
methods arc used, cid women slowly
working the grain into Hour by means OF
hand stones. As potters they have some
inert, thcil ollas, or water jugs. being
excellent, and in great demand through
out the region.
They are u law abiding and peuccablc
people, have always been friendly TO the
whites, aud when cmigrant trains were
en- route for California their protection
has been often found of great service
against rowing Indians. 1t is probable
that, at the instigation OF the whites,
they had hand in the massacre of the
Apaches at Camp Grant some twelve or
fourteen years ago. That they have
been inimical to the Apaches for very
long period is quite evident from the fact
that even to-day, when an attack is
hardly possible, mounted sentry is IN
variably fouad in position on the high
ground, and he scans the hills and plains
around him.
Tley can hardly be called strictly
honest, but if anything be left under
their charge 1t is carefully guarded.
Their religion Is a strange mixture Of
Catholicism and their older original be-
lief. The festivals of the Cnurch are
observed, as arc their own dances.
Faith in their medicne-man or conjurcr
III exists. There exists curious law OF
atoncment: in case one man kills another,
he may atone for his crime by fasting
for forty days. and living away from a
house, sleeping out on the hills.
Their condition is not fortunate one, as
they have not been benefited by civiliz-
ING influences. The administration Of tho
land laws is pcrplcxirg to them, and
there is an inclination on the part OF the
white settlers to crowd them out. They
occupy an anomalous condition, and
not Icing the wards of the American
people, are therefore not the recipients
Of either rations, clothes or money.
The cathedral of San Xavier is an
adobe church erected by the Franciscan
order in 1894 and is situated on desert
plain twelve miles south of Tues on, Ari-
iona, not far from the Santa Cruz rNer.
Its preservation to-day is remarkable,
due to the equablc character of the cli-
mate aud the absence Of rains. No ser
vice has been held at the cathedral for
the last twelve years. The plan of the
cathedral, with its fiankiug tower and
wall, suggests the power TO resist at
tack, for at all times the Apache must
have been IN enemy whose sudden at
tacks were to be dreaded. The interior
of the church is rudcIy decorated. The
altar Recommendations are designs taken
from Biblical sources. Possibly the
Franciscan fathers employed native tai
emit. whose idea OF art was but crude.
The United States government has
appointed Mr.. Hart as subagent among
the Papagos, and he acts as school mas
ter and doctor.-[ !Iarpcr's Weekly.